Feature: "A week away with the bike"

Fed up with the British winter and in desperate need of some
warmth & sunshine Club coach & Academy manager, Dan Coast packed up the
bike & headed out from Bristol Airport destined for cycling utopia.

Having got cold, windswept and wet all too often recently
and with the turbo trainer really starting to bore me it was time to get away
from it all. I had some leave which needed using and the rest of my family were
also in need of some Sunshine so a week away in Tenerife over half-term was
very much needed.

It was all a bit last minute (we only booked it 2 weeks
before heading out) but we settled on the Golf
del Sur on the south of the Island, just a short drive from the airport,
close to the other family related holiday stuff we wanted to do and ideal for me to get out on some rides from.

We have been to Tenerife a number of times but this was the
first time that I would be "allowedĒ to take my bike, only condition was that I
would need to go out early in order to be back in plenty of time to do other
things, after all it was a Holiday not a training camp.

Ahead of the trip I was lucky enough to borrow a Bike bag
from work, embarrassing enough though as it was a Team Sky bag which had just
returned from the Tour of Dubai, some baggage handlers were going to be disappointed
when they saw me collecting it!

I Went for a bag rather than a box as it can be folded away relatively
easily when not in use and didnít require me to disassemble the bike as much.
Packed out with cardboard in each end, 5mís of bubble wrap and a good 2mís worth
of pipe insulation the bike was packed along with some basic tools, spare
tyres, tubes and all important track pump. We were heading out on the 4 hour
flight.

Iíd planned a few rides and programmed routes into my Garmin
in order to avoid getting lost, pretty hard to get lost on the island which is
an extinct volcano in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa. Your either going
uphill or coming down, By being close to the airport I had both a visual
reference and plenty of signs top point me in the right direction should I get
lost in the hills.

Day 1 and after a lot of traveling I would ease into things
with a little 2 hour ride around the relatively flat roads on the coast, around
the airport and into the foothills. As soon as the sun has high enough I headed
out, as mentioned its either up or down in Tenerife & I soon began a 8 mile
drag up past the airport to the town of San Isidiro, this was supposed to be an
easy day but before long I was fast running out of gears and climbing for over
20 mins. It was a great little route once into the foothills with short but
twisty descents it allowed me to ease back into riding on the road.

The following days I headed higher up into the mountains
towards the mighty Mount Teide, Spainís highest road at over 2000m. I was never
going to get this far up in 2 hours of riding, particularly with the gearing Iíd
opted for. Unable to change my gearing in time ahead of the trip my combination
of a 39 chainring and 25 cassette was massively overgeared. Bearing in mind I
live on the Somerset levels where the biggest lumps are motorway bridges 20km
of constant 6-8% gradient was far from ideal and on most rides it I was in my
lowest gear within the first 10mins of a ride settling in to grind it out at
70rpm for the next 90mins bathed in sweat. Still I was outside in short sleeved
tops & shorts so whilst uncomfortable I had a big smile on my face and
enjoying the rides. Itís not until afterwards that Iíd stumbled on a number of
routes the pro teams like SKY use as benchmark testing, thanks to Strava I
could see how pathetically slow I was in comparison, but hey they are Professional
athletes after all.

One day I took the stunning ride up towards Vilaflor from
Las Americas, this is a busy road initially but the Spanish Drivers were great,
amazingly patient considering how slow I was going uphill they would wait until
they could fully see the road ahead before overtaking, no beeps of the horn all
week with at least 2mís space given when overtaking, if only everyone in the UK
was as patient?

This route took in some breath-taking views back down to the
coast as you twist through the hairpins, out of the cloud to around 1000m and
into the pine forests of the national park, the last bit of greenery youíll see
before hitting the volcanic rocks and the altitude becomes too much for most
plants. Iíve driven this route a number of times and as recently as 2 years ago
when we drove to see the sights we ran into Team Sky who were training ahead of
the Giro, I knew the road would be fun as I had to stop the car on the way down
as I was feeling a little car sick!

The climb was amazing, views brilliant and the hairpins demanding,
you felt like a pro if only briefly before the effort of it all became too much
and you got a reality check.

The descents were great fun, brilliant road surfaces led to
a fast flowing descent which you could take at speed, I really enjoyed this and
took great delight in zipping past locals on the way down, just a shame it was
over so quickly as it would take around 90mins of climbing to get a 20min
decent.

Overall it was a great week and Iíd love to do it again. I
can thoroughly recommend it to anyone, you need to weigh up the benefits of
taking your own bike or you can hire a suitably equipped bike for around £25 per day so you do have
options.

If you want to see where I rode or would like to chat about the trip just get in touch.